Belle Époque
Italian Painters in Paris during the Impressionist Era

This major autumn exhibition at Palazzo Blu celebrates the golden age of European art through the refined gaze of three great Italian painters working in Paris, the city of modernity.

From 15 October 2025 to 7 April 2026, Palazzo Blu in Pisa presents BELLE ÉPOQUE. Italian Painters in Paris during the Impressionist Era, a prestigious exhibition exploring the birth of artistic and European modernity through the masterpieces of Giovanni Boldini, Giuseppe De Nittis and Federico Zandomeneghi, leading figures on the Parisian art scene at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

The exhibition, curated by art historian Professor Francesca Dini, one of the most authoritative scholars and experts on the second half of the 19th century in Italy, is promoted by Fondazione Palazzo Blu, organised by MondoMostre with the contribution of Fondazione Pisa, and with the prestigious collaboration of Pinacoteca De Nittis in Barletta.
With approximately 100 works from notable international and Italian museums – including the Musée d'Orsay, the Louvre, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Meadows Museum of Art in Dallas, the Detroit Institute of Arts, Musée d'art moderne André Malraux in Le Havre, Palazzo Te in Mantua, the Uffizi Galleries, the Capodimonte Museum, Pinacoteca Giuseppe De Nittis in Barletta, and the Giovanni Boldini Museum in Ferrara – and from private French and Italian collections, this exhibition aims not only to recount the beauty and elegance of the Belle Époque, but also to critically historicise the role of Italian painters in Paris, whose contribution is often considered only secondary and subordinate but which in fact proved key in the visual definition of European modernity.
The BELLE ÉPOQUE exhibition unfolds from both an aesthetic and critical intention: to highlight the contribution of Italian artists active in Paris during the Belle Époque while also acknowledging their originality and complexity beyond the clichés of easy and merely pleasing painting. The works of Boldini, De Nittis and Zandomeneghi, all characterised by extraordinary formal refinement, are not simply images of elegance or worldly delight, but active instruments embodying and interpreting the spirit of their time.
As Francesca Dini explains, 'this exhibition represents a journey through European cultural history, via Italian artists who were able to transform their painting into an international language, without ever forgetting their roots. It is not just a collection of "beautiful masterpieces", but an attempt to give voice and context to a crucial period, restoring depth to a moment often underestimated due its own aesthetic appeal.'
The exhibition depicts Paris as a European crossroads and recounts the cosmopolitan journey of Italian artists who chose to live and work there. Giovanni Boldini, Giuseppe De Nittis and Federico Zandomeneghi moved to the French capital between 1867 and 1874, attracted by the cultural dynamism and opportunities offered by this bustling metropolis, at a time when the end of the Second Empire would soon lead to the dawn of the Third Republic. In Paris, these Italian artists found fertile ground for developing their pictorial research: they collaborated with the most influential art dealers, such as Goupil, conversed with artists such as Degas, Manet and Renoir, and frequented the intellectual circles and cafés of the new bohemian scene. Yet, even though they were immersed in the beating heart of European modernity, they maintained a deep connection with their roots, especially with Tuscan culture and the legacy of the Macchiaioli's realism.
The Macchiaioli milieu from which Boldini, De Nittis and Zandomeneghi emerged initially regarded them with suspicion: their international success seemed to come at the expense of artistic integrity. Yet, as early as 1878, Diego Martelli – theorist of the Macchiaioli group – recognised De Nittis's superiority: he was not only the finest among the Italians abroad, but his work was also 'superior in terms of artistic purpose'.
The dialogue with Parisian modernity was therefore anything but passive. Boldini became its most sophisticated interpreter, De Nittis its sensitive chronicler, and Zandomeneghi the painter of bourgeois everyday life, very close to impressionist sensibility. Yet all three reworked their Parisian experience filtering it through an Italian cultural memory, shaped between Florence, Naples, and Venice, which renders their work profoundly original and distinct from that of their French contemporaries.
The exhibition is organized into nine thematic sections, each evoking the atmosphere of a period rife with contradictions: technological progress and social inequality, bourgeois euphoria and lingering historical wounds.

The exhibition will also feature a series of lectures dedicated to the Belle Époque period, with contributions from art critics, historians and scholars who will explore its many cultural and social aspects.

Introduction
This journey through the Parisian Belle Époque seeks to historicise the role of three great Italian artists: Giovanni Boldini (Ferrara, 1842–Paris, 1931), Giuseppe De Nittis (Barletta, 1846–Saint-Germain en Laye, 1884) and Federico Zandomeneghi (Venice, 1841–Paris, 1917), interpreting in Paris an elegant and modern style of painting, often appreciated primarily within the art-collecting sphere. Rooted in the Macchiaioli tradition, yet receptive to the vitality of the French capital, in this metropolis the three Italian artists found not only success, but also a new home. Emerging from the defeat at Sedan and the dramatic upheavals of the Commune, the city reinvented itself as an international capital of the arts, capable of attracting talent from across Europe. In this context, even the most polished high-society paintings reveal the complexity of an era and the desire to capture its spirit. Their refined and cosmopolitan art anticipated Paris's enduring image of a global icon of style, elegance and modernity.
1 – From the Defeat at Sedan to the Paris Commune
The fall of Napoleon III at Sedan (1870) led to a period of crisis and revolt. Paris was besieged by the Prussians and shortly afterwards rose up against the national government, giving rise to the Commune: a revolutionary experiment that was brutally suppressed after two months. Artists such as Gustave Courbet (Ornans, 1819–La Tour-de-Peilz, 1877) took an active part in the experience, while Édouard Manet (Paris, 1832–1883) and Maximilien Luce (Paris, 1858–1941) documented the human and social drama of the events. Meanwhile, in Italy, Garibaldi led the last Risorgimento feat in Dijon, flanked by figures such as the painter Carlo Ademollo (Florence, 1824–1911). With the repression of the Commune, an era came to an end: the figure of the soldier-artist gave way to the flâneur-painter, interpreter of modern life. Works by Ernest Meissonier (Lyon, 1815–Paris, 1891), Manet, Luce, Ademollo and Sebastiano De Albertis (Milan, 1828–1897) recount the end of Risorgimento heroism and the beginning of a new urban and bourgeois sensibility.
2 – The Rebirth of Paris
After the Franco-Prussian War and the turmoil of the Commune, Paris rose from its ruins with renewed vitality, becoming the very emblem of European modernity. The city became a lively, elegant and cosmopolitan metropolis, the cultural capital of the Belle Époque. Boldini and De Nittis captured this ferment, adapting their realism to the new urban aesthetic. Their works depict modern life: luxury, fashion, parks, horse racing at the Bois. Paris was a crossroads of talent and a centre of artistic experimentation. Here, Italian painters not only made a name for themselves, but also contributed to the definition of the image of the most iconic city of the 19th century.
3.1 – Maison Goupil, Fortuny, and Italy
Founded in 1829, Maison Goupil was at the heart of the international art market in the 19th century. With offices in Europe and the United States, it promoted refined, elegant and accessible painting distinguished by small formats, costume subjects, and remarkable technical virtuosity. At the centre of this network, Mariano Fortuny y Marsal (1838–1874) rose to prominence, admired by collectors and artists alike. His stay in Portici in 1874 – his masterpiece Beach at Portici is on this occasion exhibited for the first time in Italy – inspired young and emerging southern Italian painters such as Antonio Mancini (Rome, 1852–1930), Francesco Paolo Michetti (Tocco da Casauria, 1851–Francavilla al Mare, 1929) and Alceste Campriani (Terni, 1848–Lucca, 1933), who were soon represented by Goupil. The influence of the Catalan painter renewed central and southern Italian art opening it up to the wider European market.
3.2 – The 18th-Century Dream: Boldini and the Elegance of the Past
Boldini looked to the 18th century as a source of elegance, theatricality and seduction. In his costume paintings, his homage to the ancien régime is a display of modern virtuosity. Supported by Maison Goupil, the Ferrara-born painter won over collectors with his refined and sophisticated works. His 'eighteenth-century flair was not about nostalgia, but an aesthetic strategy: spectacular painting, capable of evoking an idealised past while affirming the European identity of Italian art in the emerging international market.
4 – Boldini and De Nittis, Painters of Modern Life
Boldini and De Nittis are among the most brilliant interpreters of modern Parisian life of the late 19th century. Inspired by Fortuny and supported by Maison Goupil, their art interprets bourgeois taste for elegance and modernity with sparkling, cultured and seductive painting. While De Nittis treated impressionist light with a realistic eye, Boldini focused on vibrant atmospheres and figures in motion, oscillating between 18th-century fantasies and the energy of urban modernity. Both embodied the flâneur artist celebrated by Charles Baudelaire: refined chroniclers of the metropolis, capable of capturing the pulse of their time with grace and sensuality.

5 – The De Nittis House
De Nittis's house in Paris was much more than a bourgeois residence: it was a cosmopolitan salon, enlivened by Italian, French and English artists, writers, and intellectuals. Edgar Degas (Paris, 1834–1917), Émile Zola, Edmond de Goncourt, Jules Claretie and Manet gathered there surrounded by works of art, Japanese ceramics, brilliant conversation and music. At De Nittis's side, his wife Léontine discreetly oversaw every detail of domestic life, transforming their house into a space of elegance and conviviality. Here, the artist developed his personal style, linked to impressionism and Oriental art, elevating pastels to a new level of modernity. The 'De Nittis House' was the heart of his human and creative journey: a reflection of his affections, of his taste and of his vision of art as a way of life.
6 – Zandomeneghi and the Impressionists: The Path of the Avant-garde
In Paris, in the 1870s, Zandomeneghi came into contact with the impressionists, participating in four of their exhibitions. Fascinated by light, colour, and the modernity of urban life, he developed a personal pictorial language that combined Italian tradition with French research. His gaze often was directed to the female universe, which he captured with grace and intimacy, balancing formal innovation and lyrical sensitivity. In dialogue with Degas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir (Limoges, 1841–Cagnes-sur-Mer, 1919) and Mary Cassatt (Allegheny, 1844–Château de Beaufresne, 1926), Zandomeneghi occupied an autonomous position on the Parisian scene, standing as an original interpreter of the impressionist avant-garde.
7 – Towards a European Cliché of Elegant Modernity
Between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a new pictorial sensibility emerged in Paris that celebrated feminine elegance as a symbol of modernity. Italian, French and Spanish artists shared a refined language, influenced by the fashion industry and illustrated press. The protagonist of this artistic scene was Boldini, who devoted himself to vibrant and sensual portraits. Alongside Boldini were Spanish painters such as Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta (Rome, 1841–Versailles, 1920), Vicente Palmaroli (Zarzalejo, 1834–Madrid, 1896) and Rogelio de Egusquiza (1845–Madrid, 1915) contribute to defining a sophisticated and cosmopolitan aesthetic. This section also reexamines works and attributions, such as Lady Portrayed in her Parisian Salon, now attributed to Palmaroli. What emerges is a 'European cliché' of the modern woman: dreamy, elegant, and inspired by the Parisian atmosphere.
8 – Boldini, Helleu, Sargent: Scandal, Friendship, and Rivalry at the Origins of High-Society Portraiture
In the 1880s, John Singer Sargent (Florence, 1856–London, 1925), Boldini, and Paul César Helleu (Vannes, 1859–Paris, 1927) established themselves as leading figures in the new modern portraiture movement developing in Paris and London. The scandal caused by the Portrait of Madame X (1884) prompted Sargent to move to England, leaving Boldini with the Paris studio and an artistic legacy to develop. The three artists shared subjects, acquaintances and connections against a backdrop of brilliant international society, a modern lifestyle, and ephemeral elegance. Each of the three artists interpreted portraiture according to his own sensibility: Boldini with his theatrical and dynamic allure (on display is Portrait of the Young Subercaseaux, an exceptional loan from the Boldini Museum in Ferrara), Helleu with his luminous intimate scenes, and Sargent with his psychological refinement. Between high society, introspection and style, a new feminine ideal came to the fore, seductive and restless, symbolising an elegant and dynamic modernity.
9 – The Belle Époque in Tuscany
Between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Tuscany also experienced the charm of the Belle Époque, an era of progress, elegance, and fresh artistic sensibilities. The dialogue with Paris, the capital of modern art, could take place thanks to the French stays of many Tuscan artists and the Universal Expositions, visited by Gioli, Cannicci, and Gordigiani. Painting was updated through naturalism, high society portraiture and impressionism, reworked in a personal and local key. Salons, magazines, exhibitions and events flourished, such as the Art and Flowers Festival in Florence. Cities and towns such as Livorno, Pisa, Castiglioncello and Fauglia become crossroads of experiences and visions combining tradition and modernity. The taste for domestic intimacy, seaside social life, and dreams is reflected in a refined style and a poetic vision of everyday reality, the ultimate expression of which is Vittorio Corcos's Reading by the Sea.
The Belle Époque was much more than a happy era: it represented a unique period in which art, science and positivist thinking contributed to building a winning image of the European metropolis. Despite having just suffered military defeat, Paris was able to transform itself into a global symbol of elegance and modernity, thanks in part to the contribution of foreign artists, primarily Italians.
The small-scale but precious paintings by De Nittis and Boldini crossed the Atlantic, were purchased by major American collectors and entered museums and upper-middle-class homes, changing the concept of modern art forever.... read the rest of the article»